… But what if you can't whistle?

The Canary Islands are arguably more renowned for their magnificent marine life, carnivals, and partying However, they are also home to the incredibly peculiar Silbo Gomero language, which is spoken on the island of La Gomera. What sets this language apart from all others is that Silbo Gomero is whistled. The island's deep gullies and mountainous terrain make traveling challenging, but the higher-pitched sound of whistling is clearly audible, which led to its development out of practicality.

At the end of the 20th century, the language was on the verge of extinction. Since 1999, Silbo Gomero has been taught in schools with the goal of preserving it. In 2009, UNESCO included Silbo Gomero in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Despite the fact that there are other whistled languages spoken around the world, only Silbo Gomero is fully developed and widely "spoken." More than 22 000 Gomerans speak it. In actuality, it is still a language that the community uses to communicate important announcements, during celebrations, and on religious occasions.

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